The Metro Mayors Coalition promised a housing building boom. With 2030 now only four years away, that promise is looking shaky.
The 15 cities and towns that signed on to create 185,000 new homes by the end of the decade have so far delivered only a fraction of that total. Through 2024, the region has permitted tens of thousands fewer units than it needs, which is keeping prices and rents climbing and leaving more households on the edge of being pushed out. Municipal leaders and planners are now scrambling for ways to speed up construction before the deadline turns into a postmortem.
According to The Boston Globe, coalition communities had permitted roughly 76,600 new homes through 2024 and allowed just 4,755 new homes in 2024 alone. “We’re behind, and we’re going to have to do more if we want to fix our housing shortage,” MAPC Executive Director Lizzi Weyant told the Globe. The Globe also reported that the median single-family home price has climbed about 36 percent since 2018 to nearly $950,000, while a typical two-bedroom rent rose from about $1,850 to roughly $2,300.
Where the goal came from
The 185,000 unit target was not pulled out of thin air. It came after staff at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) projected job and population growth and estimated how many homes the region would need to keep housing costs from spiraling even further…